


Come Out and Play

by lanes denim (floratea)



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Rekindling, episode 7 did happen but i dont want to focus on adam, kiss, langa is neurodivergent and also has anxiety, langa's perspective, post episode 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 00:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30097293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floratea/pseuds/lanes%20denim
Summary: It's a particularly cold night, much too cold for such a tropical place as Okinawa. Langa's only solution is to crank out one of his old turtlenecks from living in Gatineau, where he ends up catching himself in a rut of emotions. He decides in a panic that his only solution is to talk to Reki.🌬️Yeah, I know it makes you nervousBut I promise you, it's worth itTo show 'em everything you kept insideDon't hide, don't hideToo shy to say, but I hope you stayDon't hide awayCome out and playTitle named after the song by Billie Eilish
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa & Kyan Reki, Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	Come Out and Play

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, welcome to my first fic! I would like to dedicate this to my friend Ellie for encouraging me to write this, and giving me such a wonderful song rec to go along with this! If anyone is interested, we also have a spotify playlist together based off of Renga's relationship <3
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5M7SFT8wiTHiZMIaYCg6Bo?si=XEW6-7R0SQ2aWiNrDqOUhA

Langa has been trying hard for the past two weeks of class not to look at Reki. He worries that paying too much attention toward the obvious burned bridge between the two boys would make Reki uncomfortable, and Langa wanted to respect his wishes of avoidance as much as possible. Of course, avoidance was difficult when the two still occupied the same neighboring desks as they had when they were friends.

It was difficult for Langa to control his train of thought most times, and it proved even worse when his mind began to wander toward the negative. The boy found that his best method to blocking himself from disaster was to pay particular attention to the things he could see or feel around him in class... pointedly nowhere too far to his right, of course, but rather in front of him, or even outside the window to his left.

Langa allowed himself a brief glance of Reki's reflection in the window before focusing his eyes out towards the trees sitting on campus. The leaves rustled gently outside, and the sky was dull from cold. A steady breeze was washing over the town of Okinawa, and the weather report that morning suggested that this may be a few days worth of an event. It would be a nice, homely thought, if it weren't for the fact that Langa absolutely despised it.

Langa fumbled his fingers nervously around the knit turtleneck of his sweater, and his mind wandered to contemplate why he didn't throw it out before he left Canada. The boy wasn't one to hold such a grudge against things, but there was a huge difference when it came to even the most simple reminders of his hometown, Gatineau. It was not only where he grew up, but where his dad grew up, and his dad's dad. The boy had a stable family lineage based around the French province, and yet all of that seems so long gone. Langa didn't want to sit too long to think about it. He simply wished that he could have gotten another sweater, one that was not Canadian. Maybe one with a big bold "OKINAWA" written across the chest would've done better for his mind. Yet, Langa decided It was not worth the tension. He snapped his focus, moving his hands to study at the wooden grain of his school desk instead.

\--🌬️--

Langa spent lunch mindlessly fumbling at his sweater, he spent his skate down to the park fumbling, too. He even spent his quiet, lonely skate practice by the bridge fumbling. If someone were to glance at Langa throughout the day, he thought, they would be sure to think that his sweater was itchy or uncomfortable. It really wasn't, though. It was made of a high quality woolen thread, hand-knit by a woman from a local clothing market back home. The thing that made it so worth fumbling at was it's somewhat constricting neck. Despite never having an issue with this before, Langa found that today it had been a worsening phenomenon. The weather was too brisk to remove it though, alas.

The day eventually weened, and Langa was painfully aware that it was only 8 pm. He had watched the sun set earlier as he skated down the empty sidewalks of town, and despite all signs telling him to go home, he persisted in his wandering. His mothers shift was ending at 11 that night, and he didn't trust himself to go home so early knowing what little distraction an empty house can provide.

He was able to subdue his thoughts for a few hours by practicing some new tricks, but it wasn't much the same without having Rek- ...people, there to talk to. He considered calling up Shadow, but he worked closing on Tuesdays. He thought of calling up Miya as well, before remembering that he was much younger than him, and proved not to be as fun company due to their age gap. He was sure Miya's curfew was 5 on regular nights, anyways.

Finally Langa resorted to aimless, aimless wandering.

The breeze had persisted into that night, and since the sun had gone, the air had gotten comfortable in coolness. Langa couldn't avoid his thoughts now, as reminders of Canada trickled into his mind like crisp icicles on long eaves. He suddenly wished he did not stay out so long. If Langa could get out of this cold, he could get out of this tight sweater, and thus get out of these anxious feelings. He was sick and tired of running from these painful recollections of his father, his family.. his home. Okinawa was not supposed to be like this, it's not supposed to be a replacement to Gatineau. He was expecting heat, warmth, a new life. A new family. Solitude.

Solitude.

_Solitude.._

It strikes through Langa's heart, a memory. A memory of the first person Langa really spoke to in Okinawa, only a few days after moving. The boy with unkempt hair and an annoying sense of fashion. His heart warmed without thought, and Langa wished it wouldn't have. He wasn't expecting to meet someone outside of family so fast when he first moved here. The boy was an unexpected halt in his plan for life in Japan, he was who pulled Langa from his woeful wish of remoteness. He was... the _only_ person to prevent him from fulfilling that wish. 

No longer, though.

Now that Langa has finally retrieved his wish for living his new life with his new family in comfortable solitude... he... hates it.

A particularly harsh gust of wind bursts toward Langa, and he shivers quick. _He shivers??_ It's been so long of living in the subtropics that Langa hardly realizes how unused to the cold he has become. It causes a tighter spiral to concur in his mind.

What if Langa was wrong with what he wanted. 

What if, in truthfulness, Reki was the unexpected progression in his plan for life in Japan. He didn't want to find someone, but someone wanted to find him. Reki didn't force to replace his life in Gatineau, he was the person to connect his life here to the one back in Canada. Reki was who he needed to make him feel like Langa's life made sense, that it was not chopped up like rapid rivers- but it was a steady course winding through wakeful bends. His life was a river so well carved into the earth, it could survive even the harshest draughts. Reki was the only real person who let him feel that.

Langa couldn't handle this thought. A second harsh breeze almost tumbled him over in his path. Despite being such a talented skater, the boy was distracted. He kicked up his board in a panic, and decides then and there. 

He needs to talk to Reki.

\--🌬️--

Reki's phone chimes at a startling volume. Luckily, the boy wasn't too tired to be bothered by it. 

Reki scrolls down on his notification bar, wondering who could've disturbed him from his regular youtube binging routine. He was not expecting, of all the two people who text him somewhat regularly, to be contacted by Langa.

the text message read:

_reki, i remember what you said a few weeks ago.  
but please, i need to talk to you  
come outside _

then and there, Reki's chest swelled up in anxiety. He thinks to himself that if he weren't so worried for Langa, he would have left his message on read. He knows though that that would never be a possibility.

_okay,  
ill be there in a second _

He shrugged on a heavy coat and tiptoed out to the front entrance of his house, slipping on his father's old sandals before escaping through the door. There he saw Langa, red in the face from hours of wind exposure, holding his board at his side.

\--🌬️--

This is the first time Langa has made eye contact with Reki in two weeks. He feels guilty, like he's breaking a personal boundary, but he is too tired and helpless to deny himself at least one attempt at rekindling. He doesn't step forward, no. He doesn't even move a muscle. The boy stands there, with a confused ex-best-friend before him, as he struggles to find the words to explain all that has been rushing through his mind. He feels his neck tighten, wanting eagerly to grasp at the seam of his sweater, like it was strangling him. It is all so fast and confusing; mixed emotions and languages and colors swirling through his head as he just _tries_ and _tries_ to find the right way to phrase the right thing to say. He can successfully communicate one thing, at least.  
"I'm sorry."

Reki stands still, his jacket way too big for him. Langa notes how obvious it is that Reki has never had to prepare for something like snow before, this is probably as cold as it gets around here. His chest squeezes, so Langa decides to focus on something else. Reki's headband, instead. It used to be a common focus point for Langa's eyes when they were still friends. It comforts him a little to see such a similar sight again.

"I'm sorry for calling you out, I know you feel as though we aren't a good fit anymore. But I.." he drags on his words a bit, and he stares harder at the blocky dino around Reki's forehead. He gulps nervously. "I've not valued our friendship enough, while we had it.

"I loved being around you, learning from you, sharing with you. It was unexpected for me, but I loved it. I want to let you know now how important that was for me."

He allowed himself a glance at Reki's eyes, and he felt a shock rush down his spine when he found that Reki was looking right back. His expression confused Langa a little, his mouth was turned down and his eyes were wide. He figured Reki might be upset. At the thought, Langa was stumped. He lost the groove of what he was saying, and everything felt a little loud again.

Reki shuffled his feet a little, and as another wave of wind struck the two boys, he hugged himself around the waist a little. "I.. didn't know I was important.. in your eyes." Reki thinly spoke.

Langa looked up, and tightened his hand around his skateboard. He tried with his might to force his words out. They came out a little taut and loud. "Of course you were. You were the only person to make me. Feel. At home, here. I.. Miss that."

He stepped forward gingerly, he wanted to be closer to Reki again, without scaring him off into his house, never to speak to Langa again.

"After I lost.. my dad.. I didn't think I could find passion in anything else again. I didn't even want to find anyone when I came here. I wanted to leave who I really was... back home. With my dad. I didn't want to start a new life without him, I didn't want to replace it. But you were the one .. thing- the one _person_ to help me see how .. unworth it it was. How it wasn't replacing anything. I had a life back in Canada... and I have a life now, here. With you. But I am still the same person. It took me until.... after... we stopped being friends.. for me to realize that." Langa was focusing on the floor, Reki's house, the gate surrounding Reki's house... essentially anything but Reki as he cranked out his thoughts, like a rusted machine way out of practice. He didn't realize until after his little spiel that Reki had closed more of the gap between him, and although Langa was surprised by it, he didn't move back at all.

"I've missed you." Langa choked dryly.

Reki was about 3 feet from him, and his eyes were full of tears. Langa worried if what he said was wrong, and almost threw himself into a panic over it if it weren't for Reki's sudden jump toward him. The redhead had lept into Langa's arms almost needingly, and hugged him tight around the shoulders. Langa gasped sharply, his heart going up his throat, threatening to bound out with a jumble of words and confessions right then and there. He held back, and instead wrapped his arms tight around Reki's waist. He felt his cheeks warm up in the icy air, and his eyes blurred out in a hot tear. Everything was finally rushing out of Langa's heart and it felt so scary but so great and so relieving. 

Both boys stood, clinging to each other like the earth was about to crack open between them. Reki choked out a sob that had been welling in his throat for what felt like decades. Langa responded immediately with a tighter grip on his puffed jacket, and sighed out his own tears quietly into Reki's shoulder. It felt like they could stand and cry for hours. Maybe they could fill the time they've spent apart with just as many tears. 

A minute later, Reki finally spoke.. raspy, and through tears, "I've felt so useless.. all this time." 

Langa squeezed Reki, struggling to find just the way to express this. "You never were to me. You were everything."

At the words, Langa felt his whole body glow with a lovely warmth, and a tug in his chest. He didn't know if Reki knew exactly what he meant by this, but he hoped with his whole heart that Reki felt the love Langa had for him. 

"Can we.. please.. stay friends?" Langa whispered, hopelessly.

Reki pulled himself away from the hug, and Langa was nervous. He stared hard into Langa's eyes, brows furrowed. Langa would be too nervous to look right back usually, but he was too enraptured by the boys beautiful amber eyes. He was completely unaware just then of Reki's face moving in, soft yet suddenly, to press against Langa's own lips. His eyelashes fluttered and Langa's cheeks burned.

It clicked. Reki loved Langa right back, all this time. Langa let his eyes flicker shut, and turned his head smoothly to accept Reki's lips locking in. Without thought, he moved his arms up to hug Reki from the back, and pulled his chest closer to his own. Reki pulled one hand back from the hug to cup Langa's cheek, and Langa's heart jumped at the touch. 

They stood for a few seconds, glowing and enthralled with each others touch. Finally, Langa drew back to stare right into Reki's eyes.. for the first time truly without fear that night. He asked, in a weak but airy voice, "So... do I have my best friend back?"

Reki grinned, satisfied. "No. But you have something so much better."

🌬️


End file.
